86 SOURCES OF NECTAR 
bees from the vicinity of orchards, on the plea that the bees 
injured the fruit. Even yet cases are sometimes reported of the 
supposed injury of grapes by the bees. It has been so often 
demonstrated that the bees cannot injure sound fruit that there 
is no need to state the proof here. There are times, when the 
bees are finding no nectar, when they become very annoying 
by seeking the orchards and vineyards in search of the juice of 
fruits that have been injured by birds or other insects. .\t such 
times they become so troublesome that there ix some ground 
for complaint, although they do no real injury to fruit. 
The misunderstanding hetwecn the bee-keepers and fruit 
growers is very happily being cleared up, so that it is only now 
and then in the case of some fellow who is behind the times that 
trouble of this kind occurs. 
On the other hand, horticulturists are loud in the praise of 
the honey-bee, and hundreds of testimonials as to her value in the 
fruit plantation could be cited. In an article “ The Development 
of the Apple from the Flower,” that recently appeared in * Better 
Fruit,” O. M. Osborne, of the Horticultural Department of the 
State Normal School of Tdaho, made the following statement: 
Without the aid of the bees but very little, if any, pollen would ever 
reach the stigma, for the pollen of the apple is a trifle sticky, and, unlike 
that of the corn tassel, ragweed, and several other familiar plants which 
are powdery, it cannot be distributed hy the wind. 
Since the horticultural authorities generally have come to 
realize the true place of the honey-bee in the orchard, old preju- 
dices have quickly been broken down, with the result that progres- 
sive fruit growers, in many cases, are ready to offer some substan- 
tial inducement to the apiarist to locate near their plantations. 
Unfortunately, a few fruit men are still inclined to spray their - 
trees while in bloom, greatly to the disadvantage of the bee- 
keeper. The horticultural authorities, here again, are coming to 
the rescue of the bees, and are showing wherein it is to the dis- 
advantage of the fruit grower to spray during this period, because 
of possible injury to the fruit crop, as well as to the bees. 
